Jake Tonkel

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Jake Tonkel

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2013

Personal

Birthplace

San Jose, Calif.

Profession

Engineer

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Jake Tonkel ran for election to the San Jose City Council to represent District 6 in California. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Tonkel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jake Tonkel was born in San Jose, California. He received a bachelor's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2013. Tonkel's professional experience includes being a biomedical engineer.

Elections

2020

See also: City elections in San Jose, California (2020)

General election

General election for San Jose City Council District 6

Incumbent Devora Davis defeated Jake Tonkel in the general election for San Jose City Council District 6 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Devora Davis (Nonpartisan)	53.9	24,340
		Jake Tonkel (Nonpartisan)	46.1	20,840

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 45,180
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 6

Incumbent Devora Davis and Jake Tonkel defeated Ruben Navarro and Marshall Woodmansee in the primary for San Jose City Council District 6 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Devora Davis (Nonpartisan)	48.4	13,175
✔		Jake Tonkel (Nonpartisan)	27.9	7,596
	Submit photo	Ruben Navarro (Nonpartisan)	16.7	4,557
		Marshall Woodmansee (Nonpartisan)	7.0	1,910

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,238
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Tonkel's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jake Tonkel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tonkel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

As a lifelong activist, I have years of experience organizing for the environment and public banking, against war profiteering, for immigrant rights and racial justice. Understanding the intersectionality of these battles and building a strong movement of working-class people is how we will finally build political power that represents people over profit.

I am also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. I spent 2 years working in a small town in eastern Morocco. In international development, without relationships in the community, projects often fail, regardless of the funding and other structures. I know firsthand how valuable listening to a community is for creating progress. My job in biomedical engineering is about developing innovative solutions to complex problems. I design and manufacture medical devices and have been closely involved in the business and marketing of the products we create. This has allowed me to see and understand the constraints that current power structures placed around business that want to do the right thing.

I grew up in the South Bay. I attended Los Gatos High School and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for my Mechanical Engineering degree and minor in Environmental Politics and Sociology. I've lived in the Pamlar-Borello neighborhood since I was 20.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Money has become too powerful in local politics and my conscious decision to not accept contributions from corporations or developers is because I want to be accountable to you, my neighbors in District 6.
• The status quo isn't working for many of our families. The teachers, firefighters, nurses and other working families who built San Jose are forced to move away due to stagnant wages and rising cost of living.
• The Climate crisis is the biggest issue of our time and must be solved with an understanding of environmental justice. Water contamination and air pollution disporportionately affect low income communities of color. We must make tackling these issues a top priority to both build a future for our children and to prepare for emergencies in a fiscally responsible way.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Removal of the power of lobbyist money in politics and investigating which avenues of publicly funded elections would work best for the City of San José to remove barriers for lower income residents to run for office and improve political representation.

Protecting renters and working families by advocating for stronger renter protections and increasing supply of truly affordable housing. This could be increasing the fees in-lieu of affordable housing to incentivize all new construction to include on-site affordable units at or above the 15% requirement, focusing on partnering and financing with no-profit affordable housing developers to build affordable housing units that reflect the area income distribution and supporting commercial linkage fees for affordable housing funds.

Pushing for living wages across all private sectors and investigate the possibility of an inequality tax for businesses that pay executives of the company many times over the wages of the lowest level employees as well as implement stronger previsions for reducing racial and gendered pay gaps.

We also need innovative community-based solutions across all sectors. This means championing public options and oversight of utilities including banking and telecommunications to remove monopolistic control and price gauging of residents. These avenues will bring additional revenue to the city and reducing reliance on regressive tax measures that disproportionately hurt low income families.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty , transparency and outreach capacity. Building trust with your community is the primary role of an elected official. For too long politics has been about power, with access being granted to those that can afford it. As an elected official its crucial to understand traditional barriers to access and to focus on outreach to voices that have been historically marginalized. These voices should be the strongest when making decisions about what is best for the community.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Building relationships, taking constituent feedback, being present in the community and representing diverse populations.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Three Cups of Tea by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson - The entire premise of the book is about being patient and learning to put the needs and culture of the community first.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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